Frosh, a Montgomery County Democrat, is expected to face a hotly contested primary contest in the race to succeed Attorney General Douglas F. Gansler, who is expected to soon declare his candidacy for governor.

“I am running for Attorney General because I believe Marylanders want to know they’ve got an advocate who will fight for them. They want to know someone has got their backs,” said Frosh.

Frosh, who is winding up his fifth term in the Senate, announced his candidacy in July, shortly after Del. Jon S. Cardin of Baltimore County entered the race. Dels. C. William Frick of Montgomery County and Aisha Braveboy of Prince George's County are also expected to seek the Democratic nomination. In recent decades, winning the Democratic nomination has been tantamount to election to an office no Republican has held for more than a half-century.

The 66-year-old Frosh has been chairman of the Senate Judicial Proceedings Committee since 2002. He has been a leader of liberal forces on such issues as gun control, same-sex marriage and abolition of the death penalty.

Frosh has said that attorney general is the last office he is interested in holding and that he has no ambitions to run for governor someday.

Rep. Chris Van Hollen said Thursday he will support President Barack Obama's controversial nuclear agreement with Iran, a decision that could have implications for the Democrat's campaign for Senate in Maryland.

WASHINGTON -- Rep. Elijah E. Cummings and Sen. Barbara A. Mikulski introduced an emergency spending bill that would direct $1.2 billion in funding to address challenges faced by inner-city neighborhoods, an effort to reverse what they described as decades of disinvestment.

WASHINGTON -- A powerful state lawmaker with close ties to Sen. Barbara A. Mikulski will endorse Rep. Chris Van Hollen's campaign for Senate on Thursday -- the first major endorsement to come from Baltimore in the state's high-profile political contest.